Welcome to the Mills Legal Clinic—the umbrella “law firm” for ten of Stanford’s eleven legal clinics (the Criminal Prosecution Clinic operates outside of the firm for conflict of interest reasons). I invite you to explore this website where you’ll see the incredible work of a professional community of clinical professors, other teaching attorneys, staff, and students.  You’ll see that Stanford Law School has dedicated itself to building a world-class clinical education program, led by faculty who are national leaders in their practice areas and in legal education. You’ll see students practicing law in real cases, for real clients – in courtrooms, boardrooms and legislatures. You’ll see the profound differences they are making in the lives of their clients and how the lessons they have learned in the classroom are coming to life in the clinic.

The hallmark of the Stanford clinics is that they are full-time—clinic students are not enrolled in any other courses.  As California State Bar certified student attorneys, they devote themselves to their practice without interruption. Whether in the Environmental, Criminal Defense, Intellectual Property, or any of the other clinics, they come to work every day, all day, ready to live what it means to work on behalf of a client. This immersion is not just a difference in quantity; it makes a difference in quality. In full-time clinic, students, faculty, staff, and clients work together every day—they collaborate extensively, and our students receive comprehensive mentoring and all-embracing feedback. The full-time clinic promotes spontaneous and continuous interaction, and our students report that the full-time nature of clinic makes a world of difference to their learning experience.

Approximately 120 law students dedicate at least one of their upper-level quarters to full-time clinic work each year, and we have yet to meet one who regrets it. Our students find that a clinical quarter enhances their classroom legal education, their summer employment, and their competence and self-confidence as lawyers and professionals. Clinic alums routinely say that clinic was a high point in their legal education, and that the real-life experience and close mentoring they got from the clinical faculty prepared them not only for their work immediately after law school, but for a lifetime of learning in the law.

We are very excited about the work that goes on in the Mills Legal Clinic, and I hope you enjoy learning about it here!